Fathers Day

The family on top of the Duomo in Florence, Italy (That is me next to mom with the "Caramel Kiss" colored hair. That is a story for another day)

I was lucky enough to grow up with an AMAZING father. My father sacrificed his time to be the coach for my soccer team for at least 7 years and was one of the youth group leaders when I was growing up. Dad made it a point be home for dinner and to know all of our friends. Dad filled our house with love.  I am so glad that I live only 1.3 miles away from him and mom. 

H & A are lucky enough to have JJ as their father. JJ works his butt off at work to provide for his family and then comes home and makes time to play with them and show them love. He makes it a point to be home by 5:15 every day so that we can all eat dinner as a family.  JJ is the apple of H's eye. H is his little mini-me and he can not get enough of his dad. 

We had a nice relaxing Fathers Day. I made our traditional Fathers Day breakfast, Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring. 

Ingredients:
1.5 tubs of Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
3 Tbsp. butter (melted)
1/2 C. pancake syrup
1/3 C. packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. chopped pecans
1.4 C. chopped almonds

Instructions:
Spray bundt pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts (if desired). Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top. Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring. Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes or until gold brown. Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

This breakfast is very sweet but JJ loves it so I make it every fathers day. 

After breakfast we worked out and just relaxed. We usually go to church on Sundays but H is potty training and doesn't do well when his schedule is messed up so we stayed home. A has cut 4 teeth in 20 days and come down with a bad cold so she spent the morning cuddling with her Daddy. 

Mom, Dad and Steve came over after "quiet time" and we watched golf and grilled out. H was so excited to show them his big boy underwear and that he could go potty in his frog toilet. 

For dinner I made beer can chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, salad and corn with onion power and a Bar-B-Que spice. Dinner was delicious and relaxing. 

We finished off the night with a Buttercream cake from Publix (courtesy of Steve. It's his favorite) and Cookies and Cream Trifle that I made. JJ loves all things Cookies and Cream so as soon as I saw the recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it. 

Ingredients:
Box of Brownie Mix (go ahead and make the brownies)
Cookies & Cream Mousse
* 1 (4.2 oz) box of Cookies and Cream Instant Jello Pudding Mix - dry, do not prepare
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 (8 oz) tub cool whip - thawed to room temp
Remaining ingredients
* 1 (12 oz) tub cool whip
* 1 (15.35 oz) Package Double Stuffed Oreos - crush cookies in both small and larger pieces


Instructions:
1. Make Brownies. Cut into 1 inch squares and set to the side. 
2. To make Cookie and Cream Mousse: Whisk Cookies and Cream Instant Jello Pudding mix, water and sweetned condensed milk together in a large bowl for about 2 minutes. Fold in 8 oz. tub of cool whip until no streaks are present. Stir in some extra crushed Oreo pieces as needed. Store in fridge until read to assemble trifle. 
3. To assemble Trifle, place half of the brownie squares at the bottom of the trifle dish. 
4. Next spread half of the Cookies and Cream Mousse over the brownies. 
5. Sprinkle half of the crushed Oreos over the top of the mousse.
5. Spread half of the 12 oz tub of cool whip over the Oreo crumbs. 
6. Repeat layers 1 more time only reverse the crushed Oreo layer and cool whip layer so that the Oreo crumbs garnish the top of the trifle. 
7. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours and then serve. 

It was delicious and an excellent way to end Fathers Day. 

Overall, it was great to spend Fathers Day with all the Fathers in my life and appreciate them they way that they deserve. 

I hope everyone else had a great Fathers Day!

KK

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. It was great but busy. So busy and so much fun that I forgot to take pictures. That really is the mark of a good weekend. 

Friday night we went to Family Happy Hour at JCP with the Siceloff family. One thing I learned was that our kids are not water babies (yet). Eddie & Tina have 3 boys and all jumped right in and swam around. H would barely walk in the water and A didn't even want to sit in my lap in the water. We start swim lessons for H this Saturday so hopefully he will get more comfortable and learn to enjoy the water. We had Little Caesars Pizza for dinner along with beer and margaritas and were able to get home in time for bedtime with the kids plain tuckered out. 

Saturday we went and bought some new plants to start landscaping the backyard. 

I have no idea what any of them are actually named. The purple plants' (first picture) common name is "purple shower". After we got them planted we decided to hang out in the backyard and enjoy the fact that we have grass and pretty flowers to look at. 

H loves his pretty flowers. 

Check out JJ's face in this picture

We had some friends, Matt & Gina, over for dinner and just relaxed and talked after the kids went to bed. 

Sunday was early church and lunch at Caps on the Water with Steve and Mom & Dad. 

Try not to be jealous of this

We had the biggest Gulf Coast Oysters I have ever seen. I don't have a picture of them but they were seriously bigger than my fist! We enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch with beer, oysters and fish tacos. A perfect little Sunday afternoon. 

After Caps we went home for a nap and then Mom & Dad came over for a cookout. We were all still stuffed from lunch that we just ended up having dipping bread and a brie appetizer. 

Monday we went over to Casey & Sarahs house for a cookout and to let the kids play. It was a beautiful day and we didn't go inside except to get more beer or go to the bathroom. 

H and Audrey playing the "pool"

The kids had a great time playing in the "pool" and running through the sprinklers. All the kids got along great which means that we could just sit back and relax while listening to good music (Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker was a favorite), talk and eat typical Memorial Day food (watermelon and chips & dip). H actually took a name at Casey & Sarahs, which is huge. 

After nap time we ate some delicious burgers and corn on the cob. {I don't know if it was the beer or what but this was some of the best burgers and corn I have had a in a long time. }  Then it was home for bed. 

All in all it was a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. I hope everyone else had a great  Memorial Day weekend and a good weekend this weekend. 

KK